McCain and The Divided Republican Party
2008 August 25
In case Mike and I weren’t convincing enough earlier in pointing out that party divisions is not a hornet’s nest McCain should be so willing to stir, here’s a visual representation:
Furthermore, this may be a debate preview.
-Marc-
McCain is such a blithering idiot.
-jcr
McCain is the scrap of the republican party.
Ron Paul’s headshake at that Godwin-ism is going to remain long after McCain’s been forgotten.
And still they booed him. Mcain is thoroughly corrupt, inept, and would probably make a worse president than Bush. Paul makes the most honest and reasonable showing in the debates and who gets the nomination? Moneybags Mcain.
“Reductio ad Hitlerum” The way I see it, McCain is wrong just because he brought the Nazis into it. Although it was inevitable with Godwins Law.
ok, guys, I support most of your opinions, but you really need to stop these multiple posts where the basic thesis is: “OMG, remember Ron Paul? Some Republicans liked him and hate McCain, look how divided the GOP is!” It’s complete nonsense.
Ask yourselves:
*Would a Ron Paul supporter have voted for Romney?
*Would a Ron Paul supporter have voted for Guiliani?
*Would a Ron Paul supporter have voted for Huckabee?
On and on for all this year’s (or any year’s) Republican candidates.
Ron Paul supporters seem to break down to two groups: 1) Liberal leaning folks who are tired of foreign war interventionism and rooted for Ron Paul despite his flaws because he stood in opposition to the GOP hawks and 2) hardline “constitutionalists” that literally hate government and wish we could return to 1776 when the government basically just took a tiny bit of money from you to fund a protective militia.
The smaller, liberal portion of Ron Paul voters are either going Obama, Nader/protest candidate, or staying home. The hardline libertarians will vote for Barr or prove they aren’t really libertarians by voting McCain anyway.
For some reason I can’t understand, Paul supporters tend to be zealous nutjobs that like to spam message boards, chant in the streets and chase public figures.
It’s just such a tiny, fringe minority of non-Republicans it isn’t at all relevant to McCain
Actually Jackson,
I agree, though I do think it was disrespectful and a little divisive to not let him speak based on a nonendorsement for McCain.
My greater point in my post, (I’m a little less of a Paulian than Mike) was about how little support McCain initially had from Huckabee and Romney, and how badly Limbaugh and Coulter hated (and probably still do) McCain.
One could argue that the ongoing divisiveness seen in the GOP is due to sincere philosophical differences, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Conversely, the “other side of the aisle” doesn’t really believe in any of their positions, so it’s easier for them to “come together” and pose a united front, while touting the same tired dogma of abortion rights, diversity, and socialized medicine. Unfortunately, government as the cure all seems to be the mantra for both parties. When will there be a “real” third party choice?
It is possible to dislike McCain and still recognize the fact that he’s a less dreadful choice than Obama. And yes, Aaron’s right — the divisiveness is over philosophical differences — but the United States has been divided on such issues since the time we were Thirteen Colonies, and we’ve survived it (mostly — the Civil War was pretty nasty). Even with the division, I still think most Republicans will vote for McCain just to stop Obama. And then we’ll hope and work for a better choice in the future. But of course we’ll be divided then, too.
Did McCain just compare Mr. Paul to Hitler, or an appeaser? This might be a good time to start operation chaos. I wish I would have watched the republican debates in the beginning, if I knew they were this exciting.
Jaded
John McCain is out of touch with reality.
Sarah Palin is not fiscally conservative, she raised taxes in Wasilia.
Sarah Palin under investigation for Abuse of Power.
I understand why the Republican party is divided because all the candidates are corrupt.
Barack Obama for President.
Michelle — Talk about sleaze, corruption, and raising taxes, haven’t you read anything about Obama? He’s a world-class crook with terrorists for friends, and he has already said he will raise income tax to 39 percent and add another tax to gasoline. Compared to Obama, Palin is Snow White.